A Cure for Lycanthropy
by Fordandra
Summary: The White Deer knows exactly what Bigby's problem is. He just doesn't understand what she's working for. He doesn't know how hard it to depend on glamours while having a human form due to lycanthropy. Auntie Greenleaf plans to change just that.


**AN: Unfortunately, Aunty Greenleaf was never given a first name in neither _The Wolf Among Us, _nor in the original American folklore. In regards to this, I will be using the name, "Ayala", the Hebrew name for 'doe'.**

**As is customary for any fanfiction writer, I must give you the following disclaimer; I do not claim any ownership over the world or any of its characters of The Wolf Among Us.**

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The silhouette of a woman sat before a small but well-pruned tree. Pale moonlight filtered through the branches, illuminating gentle creases on a miserable woman's face. A warm fireplace crackled behind her, a halo of orange surrounding her kneeling figure.

Auntie Ayala Greenleaf slowly released her breath, allowing the remnants of the past to fade from her mind. Her body shuddered as they passed, the memories reliant in the pain they caused her each time. Even hundreds of years old, the memories burned at her insides, the hole in her heart gaping...

_"Rachel honey, step away from the tree. It may look innocent, but dangerous secrets lurk in its bark", Ayala whispers. __A little girl in pigtails looks up with sad doe brown eyes, her little pinkie inches from the ancient tree. _

Greenleaf slowly opened her eyes, her mind wandering to the day's events. A welcome distraction from yet another failed meditation.

Her boss, her customers, and her job were gone in a single night. All because of the Sheriff and his actions. As of last night, the Crooked Man, his bodyguard, and his empire were dead in the water. The man himself was brutally slain by that Wolf, who had the audacity to then throw his corpse down the Witching Well to be forgotten. What's stopping the Wolf from murdering any one of them, claiming it as justice?

None of this had to happen, if it weren't for him. All because of Bigby Wolf, who continues to be Sheriff despite any wrong or misgiving. Despite even murder or maiming. Why does he get away with it? The Crooked Man's death means that Bigby now has free reign to murder any of them in their sleep if they make so much as one mistake.

That cursed _Snow White._..

The light of Fabletown, they called her. A princess of this world and the last, fair and merciful. Well, merciful to Bigby anyway. For all that he's done, he gets away scot free...The sooner they become a couple, the sooner the town and Snow White realizes her bias for him. Only then can Bigby receive his 'just' punishment.

As of now, Snow White is the newly appointed Deputy Mayor and Fabletown messiah, here to save them all from past corruption. All, except those trapped at the Farm in animal form. Snow White never had to deal with the thirteenth floor witches and their overpriced glamours: she has always been human in appearance.

Bigby, on the other hand, hasn't always had a human form. Now there's an idea. However, even still he never had to deal with glamours. As a wolf, you'd expect him to understand better. But no, before the founding of Fabletown, Snow White cut the Wolf with a blade stained with Lycanthropy. A human form taken at will.

A merciful gift, if only she gave it to the rest of the town.

_Snow White...do you even care for your people? _No one would need glamours ever again. The animals of the Farm could return to their loved ones. But for some reason, that's reserved to the Big Bad Wolf. Maybe it's because you need a werewolf to make more werewolves.

Maybe the solution isn't so simple, but the fact remains: neither party truly understands Fabletown's problems. The Crooked Man's empire was not the cause of glamours prices, but a symptom. The glamours will continue to increase in price and there's nothing either can do to stop it. They won't be able to fix Fabletown. Unless they can suddenly get a new perspective, they will fail just as any ruler before.

Ayala was pulled from her thoughts with a shiver. A cold sensation was creeping up her back, the fireplace smoldering from lack of wood. Ayala picked herself up and tended the fire thoughtfully.

This fireplace was nearly the end of her blessed tree. If Bigby had listened to Snow White's orders, her whole life would have been destroyed then and there.

Auntie Greenleaf was only helping the people when they couldn't afford the Thirteenth Floor Glamours. The Crooked Man offered her the customers and Crane offered her protection from the Law. Not perfect protection, of course. Snow and Bigby wouldn't have shown their faces if he had kept to his side of the deal. That was probably the whole reason Snow wanted her tree gone: to get back at Crane.

Tree or no tree, the authorities of Fabletown have always been monsters. Until they truly know the problems that face Fabletown, Snow and Bigby are no better than the previous mayor.

At her wits end, Auntie was suddenly hit upon the strangest of notions that ever a madwoman in this world hit upon, and that was that she fancied it was right and requisite, as well for the support of her own honour as for the service of her town, that she should make a wolf of Bigby, curing him of Lycanthropy. Nothing would grant better perspective to him. If he went on a rampage and sent to the Farm? So be it! Better for everyone if the Big Bad Wolf went away.

Ayala marched over to the ancient tree and took out her carved knife. With deft hands, she carved a long shaft of wood, perfect for her purpose. The tree will be unaffected by this, it's bark impervious to anything but fire. As quick as a fiddle she brought the shaft to her workspace, woodchips flying. The wood widdled, she carves a hollow space at the sharpened point. Now the cure is all that's needed.

The solution to Lycanthropy is no easy feat. Only the strongest_ Maledictus levari _on the market could break the curse. While Auntie Greenleaf may be a witch, that doesn't mean she has every spell memorized. For an extra-strength cure remover spell, she'll have to consult the Book of Spells.

Unfortunately, that also means she'll have to consort with those witches on the Thirteenth Floor.

Greenleaf groaned to herself. _What a pain. __Those smug dillweeds. _In her woes, Ayala suddenly had a thought, and she perked up to that. _It's a good thing Bigby offered me a job, the day he threatened my livelihood._

A cure for lycanthropy. A delivery device. A deliverer. A lure. With newfound resolution, Auntie Ayala Greenleaf marched out into the warm summer night.


End file.
